Artist Storytelling: People buy your art for the story

BE A STORYTELLER

When it comes to creating art, the visual effect is only half the battle. You must also craft the story behind your work.

Think about it: How many times has someone asked you, “What does your art mean?” How many speculate about why Mona Lisa is smiling?

People love to know the why, who, where of your illustrations — so tell them.

Not only does crafting a story for your art open up a whole new door for your creativity, but it opens the door for others to connect with you. Not everyone can read between the brushstrokes the way you can — you have to spell it out. And some messages simply can’t be conveyed visually. As both an illustrator and a writer, I can say from experience that both visual and verbal communication serve incredibly important, yet separate, necessary roles in your work. Non-artists might appreciate your painting, but they’ll fall in love with it if it’s communicated in a way they can better understand. Artist storytelling is the perfect avenue for that.

KNOW YOUR STORY FIRST

Inspiration strikes in ever-changing ways, so it may not always be possible to know the story behind your work before you make it. But it’s ideal.

That way, you can work in bits that tie back to it into the painting — a facial expression, small objects, the background — and bring your tale to life. The verbal and visual serve different roles, but you should think of them as parts of a single piece. They appear together, serve the same purpose, and stem from the same feeling or idea.

MAKE IT KNOWN

Once you’ve completed your illustration and you know the story behind it, make it known. Tell people when they ask about what you’ve finished recently. Type it out in full as the caption when you post it on social media. Include it when you add the piece to your portfolio, both online and hardcopy. I go a little nuts and keep files stored on my computer so I don’t forget exactly how I wanted to tell it the first time around (feelings and inspirations fade, ya know, but Google Docs never forgets!). That way I can paste it in the description portion of competitions or other submission processes.

If you never make the art story public, it won’t do you any good. You want your audience to hear and understand your message. You want to add another layer behind a pretty picture or shocking image. It’s especially important if you’re creating abstract art or art that’s hard to decipher by an untrained eye.

WHAT TO SAY

Artist storytelling should do 3 things: align with your brand, get a little personal, and have an effect on those who read it.

If you’ve built up a personal brand that’s loving, kind, sensitive, pink, warm and fuzzy, it may be off-putting to pair one of your cute paintings with a story about how you just wanted to rip someone’s head off for annoying you at the store. It would disrupt your overall message and shut out your kindhearted fans. Save those rants and venting fits for your friends.

(Not sure about how to create a brand? See this post here.)

Get a little personal with your stories, too. This is the best way to connect with others: on a human to human basis. We all have struggles, triumphs, weird emotions and streaks of bad luck. Share what’s going on with you. It doesn’t always have to be deep. You can share a story about your last travel adventure, your stress at work or appreciation for your new winter boots. Humans relate to simple experiences too.

Artist storytelling should have an effect on those who read it. This doesn’t have to be deep either. It can be as easy as the viewer saying, “Wow, me too.” Straightforward connection is sometimes the most profound. The story can invoke pity for an animal, motivate someone to get up and take action, or it can make someone laugh. Be intentional about how you want to make your audience feel.

You don’t have to be a great writer or speaker for this strategy to benefit you. Charisma helps, but the role of presentation is taken up by your visual art instead.

FOR EXAMPLE

I learned the power of storytelling in this fashion in 2018 when I went on a hiking trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes here in Michigan. While on the trip I was curious to know the legend that gave the state park its name. After some research, I found it was a heart-wrenching Native American folktale about a mother bear who lost her two cubs while escaping a forest fire. (You can read the whole story on Instagram here.)

I was so moved by the folktale that I felt called to illustrate the emotion the mother bear must have felt after she learned her cubs would never return to her. I based the whole illustration on the feeling that legend gave me. I posted the painting online, recounting my trip and the story of the place I had visited.

People absolutely ate it up. They were drawn in by the cute-but-specific drawing and sunk deeper into the emotion by reading the meaning behind it. So many people — even Michiganders like myself — had never heard the old tale and felt unashamed to admit they were discovering it for the first time too. We all connected over our empathy for the mother in the story, the fact that we had all visited the same place, and the history of our home state.

These connections with other people through artist storytelling translates into sales. It remains one of my most frequently bought prints to this day!

And it’s important to note that while it was a story about my trip, my home state, my feelings, it wasn’t a story about ME. It was totally personal and deep, but emphasized these legendary characters instead. Many artists focus on folktales, scientific facts about plants and animals, historical happenings, and even compelling social statistics to help tell their stories or convey the inspiration for their piece.

Don’t be afraid to be flexible and get creative with it!

What story will you tell next? Drop your ideas in the comments.